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Sherry Turkle is Abby Rockefeller Mauz Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT and the founder (2001) and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, a center of research and reflection on the evolving connections between people and artifacts in the co-construction of identity. The Initiative looks at a range of technologies including robotics, psychopharmacology, video games, and simulation software and their effects on human development. Dr. Turkle has written numerous articles on psychoanalysis and culture and on the "subjective side" of peoples' relationships with technology, especially computers. She received a joint doctorate in sociology and personality psychology from Harvard University, and is a licensed clinical psychologist. She is the author of P*sychoanalytic Politics: Jacques Lacan and Freud's French Revolution *(1978); *The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit* (1984); *Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet* (1995); and *Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age* (2015).

Deborah W. Meier is currently on the faculty of New York Universitys Steinhardt School of Education, as senior scholar and adjunct professor as well as Board member and director of New Ventures at Mission Hill, director and advisor to Forum for Democracy and Education, and on the Board of The Coalition of Essential Schools. Meier has spent more than four decades working in public education as a teacher, writer and public advocate. She began her teaching career as a kindergarten and headstart teacher in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City schools. She was the founder and teacher-director of a network of highly successful public elementary schools in East Harlem. In 1985 she founded Central Park East Secondary School, a New York City public high school in which more than 90% of the entering students went on to college, mostly to 4-year schools. During this period she founded a local Coalition center, which networked approximately fifty small Coalition-style K-12 schools in the city. Meier was born April 6, 1931 in New York City; she attended Antioch College (1949-51) and received an MA in History from the University of Chicago (1955). She has received honorary degrees from Bank Street College of Education, Brown, Bard, Clark, Teachers College of Columbia University, Dartmouth, Harvard, Hebrew Union College, Hofstra, The New School, Lesley College, SUNY Albany, UMASS Lowell, and Yale. She was a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 1987.

James Hirsch is the author of *Cheating Destiny*, *Hurricane*, *Riot and Remembrance*, and *Two Souls Indivisble*. These stories cover different people, in different places, at different times; but all of his books have one thing in common: they are all about survival.

Presidential biographer Edmund Morris was born and raised in Kenya and went to college in South Africa. After working as an advertising copywriter in London, he immigrated to the United States in 1968. Morris published his first biography, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, in 1980. The book won that year's Pulitzer Prize and American Book Award. President Ronald Reagan was so impressed with the effort, that he gave Morris free access to his papers, friends and associates, with the commission to write his authorized biography. After about thirteen years, he published the national bestseller Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan in 1999. The second in Morris' projected trilogy about Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, was published in 2001. Morris has also written extensively on travel and the arts for such publications as The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Harpers Magazine.

Mary Robinson became High Commissioner for Human Rights on 12 September 1997, following her nomination to the post by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the endorsement of the General Assembly. Mrs. Robinson assumed responsibility for the UN human rights programme at a time of great change. As she took up her post in Geneva, the Office of the High Commissioner and the Centre for Human Rights were consolidated into a single Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Under her leadership, the Office has been gearing up to better face existing and emerging human rights challenges, harnessing the energies of new actors in the global quest for a universal culture of respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. Mrs. Robinson came to the United Nations after a distinguished seven-year tenure as President of Ireland. As President, Mrs. Robinson developed a new sense of Ireland's economic, political and cultural links with other countries and cultures. She placed special emphasis during her Presidency on the needs of developing countries, linking the history of the Great Irish Famine to today's nutrition, poverty and policy issues, thus creating a bridge of partnership between developed and developing countries. Before her election as President in 1990, Mrs. Robinson served as Senator, holding that office for 20 years. In 1969 she became the youngest Reid Professor of Constitutional Law at Trinity College, Dublin. She was called to the bar in 1967, becoming a Senior Counsel in 1980, and a member of the English Bar (Middle Temple) in 1973. She also served as a member of the International Commission of Jurists (1987-1990) and of the Advisory Commission of Inter-Rights (1984-1990). Educated at Trinity College, Mrs. Robinson also holds law degrees from the King's Inns in Dublin and from Harvard University.

Newton Minow was one of the most controversial figures ever to chair the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Appointed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, Minow served only two years, but during that time he stimulated more public debate over television programming than any other chair in the history of the commission. Trained at Northwestern Law School, Minow's public career began with his involvement in the administration of Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson during the 1950s. At a very young age Minow became a leading figure both on the governor's staff and in his presidential campaigns of 1952 and 1956. During the latter, Minow became acquainted with members of the Kennedy circle and in 1960 worked for the Kennedy presidential bid, becoming close friends with the President's brother, Robert. Reportedly, the two men frequently talked at length about the increasing importance of television in the lives of their children. It therefore came as little surprise that after the election Minow eagerly pursued the position of FCC Chair. Some observers nevertheless considered it unusual given his lack of experience with the media industry and with communication law.

Robert Pierpoint is a former American broadcast journalist who worked for CBS. Before becoming one of CBS' White House correspondents, Pierpoint covered the Korean War and appeared on the first edition of See It Now in 1951. He also covered the State Department for CBS, and appeared frequently on Charles Kuralt's Sunday Morning broadcasts until his retirement. As a close associate of Edward R. Murrow on radio and television, he is seen as part of the second generation of Murrow's Boys. He is also remembered for playing himself, on the radio, in the final episode of M*A*S*H. In all, Mr. Pierpoint served as White House Correspondent for 6 presidential administrations, from Eisenhower to Carter. His memoirs from this period are detailed in his book At the White House, published in 1981.